In the food industry, many perishable foods require refrigeration for lengthy storage. Restaurants, cafeterias and other high volume food preparers typically have large refrigeration units for storing perishable food items. The heavy doors of these refrigeration units are usually tightly sealed making them difficult to open. Often the person who uses the refrigeration unit has his or her hands full when needing to open the door which makes opening the door an even more difficult task.
For refrigerator doors which open by swinging outwardly, foot treadles have been employed to assist in opening the doors more easily and without the need for a person to use his or her hands. These foot treadles have typically been designed with foot pedals attached to door jambs. One end of the foot pedal contacts a breaker plate mounted to the door that extends over the foot pedal. By stepping onto the other end of the foot pedal, it applies a force to the breaker plate that creates a moment that causes the door to swing about its pivotal mount outwardly thereby breaking the door seal. The door may then be readily opened.
Sliding refrigerator doors have the same problem with regard to opening since they are also typically sealed closed. Foot treadles used for swinging doors, however, may not be used with sliding doors since application of a force to their face only accomplishes breaking the door seal. Sliding doors are typically suspended from overhead tracks which cause the sliding doors to travel in all three X, Y and Z three directional dimensions as they move into and out of their sealed, closed position. The sliding doors initially move slightly upwardly from their seal with the floor and outwardly from their seal with the door jamb as they commence their sliding motion, and thereafter only slide laterally.
Thus, it is seen that there remains a need for a foot treadle for sliding doors. Accordingly, it is to the provision of such that the present invention is primarily directed.